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Winners of TALE Outstanding Teaching Award announced

Winners of TALE Outstanding Teaching Award announced

Christian Grandzol, Ph.D., assistant professor of management, and Pamela Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of audiology and speech pathology, will be recognized at the spring commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 7, for their outstanding teaching.

Grandzol and Smith are the Teaching and Learning Enhancement (TALE) Outstanding Teachers of 2011.

Grandzol was nominated by students who uniformly describe the great deal of effort he takes toward making sure students understand the material by providing examples of how the information relates to real life both inside and outside the classroom. This ability to connect each topic covered in current and meaningful ways is memorable and helps students to understand how they will use the material in their future business careers.

He is admired for the hands-on”opportunities he provides for learning outside of the classroom through scheduled trips to businesses, and relevant simulation projects. He is known for demanding your best effort by setting high expectations and expecting you to meet his standards. His classroom etiquette and teaching format and structure ensures a high quality environment for learning, which inspires students to be the best they can be.

Nominees state he ensures they have a complete understanding of the material, and he challenges his students in many different ways through his knowledge, respect, help, professionalism, enthusiasm and genuine interest in the success of his students.

Smith was nominated for being a dynamic educator who strives to present information in a functional and clinically relevant manner. Students note that her lectures were always filled with difficult material that she made easy to understand by incorporating media outlets, humor, and current events.

This exceptional educator loves what she is doing within the clinic and the classroom and her approach to teaching reels you in and makes you want to learn. She answers students questions practically and concisely and is known to spend countless hours helping students with anything from class work to clinical issues going “ar beyond what is expected of her.

Her passion as a teacher and advisor to the National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association has helped confirm nominee’s reasons for choosing their professions. By assigning projects that encourage creativity, she teaches students to think on our feet and prepares us for careers as clinicians. Smith teaches theory in a way that takes us to real life so we can apply what we have just learned in practical ways to student’s careers as speech therapists.

Grandzol and Smith will be recognized during the afternoon commencement for the College of Business and the College of Science and Technology.

Grandzol and Smith were nominated for the award by graduating undergraduate and graduate students. They will both receive a $750 professional development stipend, sponsored by the BU Foundation, and a plaque to recognize their achievement.